Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships

“Relationship expert and bestselling author Tristan Taormino offers a bold new strategy for creating loving, lasting relationships. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over a hundred women and men, Opening Up explores the real-life benefits and challenges of all styles of open relationships — from partnered non-monogamy to solo polyamory. With her refreshingly down-to-earth style and sharp wit, Taormino offers solutions for making an open relationship work, including tips on dealing with jealousy, negotiating boundaries, finding community, parenting and time management. Opening Up will change the way you think about intimacy.”

I got this book when I was trying to figure out the best way to handle an open relationship. I got it and I was going to share it with my partner as we worked on opening up our relationship. That relationship ended, but my fascination with this book has not.

Someone once told me that this book was the textbook version of The Ethical Slut. This book held up that statement really well. This book went more in-depth and didn’t just say “do what makes you feel good and talk a lot”. Instead it talks about the different styles of polyamory and some basic logical issues that have arisen. There were also interviews with people in different types of poly relationships instead of just the styles that were presented in The Ethical Slut. I will forever be a fan of both books.

This book even covered non-partnered non-monogamy. This is something I NEVER see represented and discussed as more than just casual dating. This book actually says that people can live this form of non-monogamy for their lives if they choose to. I am impressed at how many different ways of dating were represented. I wish this book would have never ended. There were even chapters about the legality of poly when it comes to children (which if you know me personally know that that is something I having to think about more and more).

This is the book to read if you are a psychology or sociology nerd and want to know what is what when it comes to poly relationships. Or if you are in a poly relationship or want to be in one, this book will give you the language to discuss it with your partner more easily and it helps put things in perspective. PLEASE READ THIS ONE.